Hide-and-seek- Who knows how long people have been playing it? The first known recorded mention was in the second century, in Greece. No report on whether they yelled “Ready or not, here I come!”

One of my earliest memory is of my family playing hide-and-seek in our 1950’s ranch house. Our parents were hiding, and we three kids, ranging from 5 to 2 were trying to find them, and we could not! Finally, hearing our panic-stricken voices, they made some noise so we had a clue where to hone in on- the bathtub, with the shower curtain closed. At 70 years old, that would be the first place I’d look. But not when I was four. After being a parent of young children myself, I now imagine my folks enjoyed the quiet five minutes alone.

My son had a sleep-over when he was a preteen, and the kids played hide-and-seek. Again, a situation of being unable find him. Who knew a ten-year-old could fold himself into a covered laundry hamper (unfathomably empty before he climbed in)? Somehow. he kept from giggling as we all looked for him, completely mystified. He ultimately popped out when we asked him to reveal himself and we declared him the grand winner.

Growing up, we played hide-and-seek with kids in our neighborhood of civil-war-era homes, across a series of four yards. It was the antithesis of the ranch-home subdivision and had some good hiding places, including our toolshed and a slew of overgrown honeysuckle bushes. Hide-and-seek was interspersed with freeze-tag, swinging statues, and kill-the-man-with-the-ball (just as brutal as it sounds).

A game that I enjoyed more than hide-and-seek was “Sardines in a can”. Instead of looking for people who hid, “It” was the person who did the hiding. After counting to twenty, the other players looked for “It”, trying to find them. When you discovered “It”, you’d hide along with them, the crowd getting deeper and sillier as each person joined. There’s nothing more fun than ten kids crowded under a bush, trying not to laugh. I forget if the first person joining became “It”, or if it was the last of the seekers.

I liked that game best because of the comradery, silliness, and fun. As a member of 12-step recovery, those are still things I enjoy. In the meetings and other gatherings, I find that same sense of community, joy, humor, and mischief.

One of my daily prayers is “May all who are lost let themselves be found.” Hiding alone is, well, lonely.

Sometimes we hide ourselves so well that we can’t be found. If that’s the case, it’s okay to make a little noise.  Allow someone find you in that game hide-and-seek. And if you hear that call “Olly, Olly, Oxen Free”, please come out. The game isn’t over until you’re in and home.